ROBERT THORNTON edged a dramatic final against Ian White to win the sixth Players Championship of the year and claim his first title of 2014 at the Robin Park Tennis Centre in Wigan.

 

The Scot found himself 4-2 and 5-4 down to the Stoke ace and survived match darts in the tenth leg of the final before triumphing 

in the decider.Thornton began his run to the title with 6-3 win over David Pallett before recording a brace of 6-1 wins over Aden Kirk and Wayne Jones to claim his place in the last 16.

 

The Betway Premier League star then knocked out Andy Parsons 6-3 before edging out Richie Burnett 6-5 in a tight quarter-final 

encounter.Thornton faced Phil Taylor in the semi-finals, and he started well by establishing a 3-0 advantage before Taylor won three of the next four legs to pull back to 4-3.

 

The next two legs were shared before Thornton took out a 76 finish to seal his place in the final, after Taylor had missed a dart at 

the bullseye to force a deciding leg.Thornton also enjoyed a good start in the final against White by winning the first two legs, only for the Stoke thrower to race through the next four, hitting an 11-darter and two 14-dart-finishes in the process.

 

The Scotsman hit back to win the seventh leg with a fabulous 144 checkout before taking the eighth in 13 darts to level the game at four apiece and set up a tense finale.

 

White took out an 81 finish to win the ninth leg and edge back ahead, but missed six opportunities to close out the game in the 

next and Thornton capitalised to hit double eight and force a deciding leg.Thornton held the advantage of throw in the final leg and two 140 scores put him clear, and he went on to hit double top to claim his first title of 2014 and the eighth of his PDC career.White, a World Championship quarter-finalist at Alexandra Palace last Christmas, reached his second final in the space of three weeks, but once again fell at the last hurdle.

 

The 43-year-old claimed 6-2 wins over John Henderson and Joey Ten Berge to open the day before an excellent whitewash in the last 32 over Stuart Kellett continued his smooth progress.White continued his excellent form as he dropped just three legs to Andrew Gilding and Vincent van der Voort before sealing a place in the final with a 6-1 win over Kyle Anderson, which featured a 141 checkout from the Stoke star.

 

In the final, White responded well to dropping the first two legs against Thornton by claiming the next four with some fabulous darts – including an 11-dart-finish in the fourth leg.White, though, was left to rue six missed chances to win the match in the tenth leg as Thornton won the last two legs to steal the £10,000 first prize.

 

Following a second round exit to Scottish newcomer Jamie Bain in Saturday’s event, Phil Taylor showed some superb form in his run to the semi-finals 24 hours later.

 

The 16-time World Champion defeated five-time World Champion Raymond van Barneveld 6-4 in a high-quality quarter-final encounter – ending with a 110.41 average to defy the Dutchman’s five 180s.

 

That put Taylor through to the last four, but his hopes of reaching a fourth final of the year were ended after a narrow 6-4 loss to 

eventual winner Thornton.Australia’s Kyle Anderson, who created his own piece of World Championship history last Christmas with a fantastic nine-darter, produced a brilliant run to the semi-finals, his best result since securing a Tour Card in January.The 26-year-old - now based in Nottingham after moving to the UK - claimed notable wins over experienced aces Darren Webster and Mark Walsh en route to the last eight, where he defeated seven-time major champion James Wade by a 6-3 margin.That superb win put Anderson through to the last four, but his fantastic run ended there as he lost 6-1 to White, despite hitting a 140 checkout to win his only leg of the contest.

 

Van Barneveld and Wade reached the quarter-finals for a second consecutive day, while another Dutchman, Vincent van der Voort, reached his fourth quarter-final of 2014 after a strong display.1995 Lakeside Champion Richie Burnett enjoyed his best result of the year with a fine run to the last eight, which included wins over Kirk Shepherd, Ronny Huybrechts and Wes Newton before narrowly losing to Thornton.

 

Bristol’s Andy Parsons enjoyed his run in a ProTour event since securing his Tour Card at the start of the year by reaching the last 

16, while Wales’ Kevin Thomas matched his effort in the Dutch Darts Masters two months ago by progressing to the same stage.

Saturday’s winner Brendan Dolan lost his opening game to Stoke’s Mark Frost, while Michael van Gerwen suffered a first round exit for the first time in nearly two years after a 6-2 loss to Michael Barnard.

 

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